Making space for skepticism: A comms-first approach to AI at work

For communicators looking to start the conversation on the AI-employee relationship, the best place to start is by taking a holistic view of the employee experience with the technology. Not everyone is going to be on the same pace in their journey with AI.

“Communicators already know how to stay employee centered,” Catherine Richards, AI strategist and co-founder of Expera Consulting told Ragan. “What changes with AI is the speed and scale of change. If the conversation only reflects the most enthusiastic voices, you miss the concerns holding everyone else back. Good AI communication reflects what people are really thinking.”

Bringing the conversation to life

The best employee comms dialogues begin with a plan. Tim Megginson, vice president of digital and data at Visit Orlando, said that his team formed an internal task force to build trust around AI communication.

“Our employee communications focus is built around how AI can support daily work,” he said. “We created a clear employee policy to ensure responsible and safe use. From there, our HR team began sharing learning lessons, hosting regular training sessions and leading show-and-tell events to provide real-world examples.”

Richards said that every conversation about AI starts with trust. The more people know about how AI is going to be used, the more real it’ll feel and the more open conversations can take place.

“Trust comes first,” she said. “Momentum follows. People need to feel supported and confident in how AI will be used before they’re willing to jump into it. When that foundation is there, even small peer wins like saving time on a routine task can spark curiosity.”

Create the infrastructure to hear multiple perspectives

Richards shared that in a past role, her team worked with an AI council to learn from a bevy of viewpoints. That helped shape messaging and upskilling opportunities around the technology in a way that didn’t lean too strongly one way or the other.

“At VMware, our AI Council included both champions and skeptics,” she said. “That mix helped us upskill a global marketing team in six months.”

Comms pros should also set up infrastructure that allows employees to ask questions without fear. That can come in the form of surveys or anonymous submissions on an intranet platform.

“Listen to the people asking the hardest questions and answer them,” Richards said. “Then share those answers out. Many want to know but are afraid to ask.”

Comms pros should also look at these conversations by organizational function. Megginson said that Visit Orlando’s marketing and comms function has worked to open conversations with their colleagues in other departments to get their viewpoints on AI use on the job.

“That input built buy-in and helped position employees as active participants in driving positive changes,” Megginson said.

Not everyone is going to be sold on AI right away. But the best way comms can assuage

concerns is by getting granular about AI use. Talk about what tools are going to be used and how.Taking that extra step to address a concern can help turn an AI conversation from apprehensive to productive and even encourage some education on the subject.

“Once you name the issue, you can respond directly and guide the conversation toward real use,” Richards said. “When you make space for hard questions early, you help support a culture where more people feel confident experimenting and learning.”

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.